Easy Tarot Guide Book Review

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Easy Tarot Guide by Marcia Masino Review by Michele Jackson

This book is provides a step by step method of learning the Tarot. It is well suited

for those who don’t know where to start and an want to take an orderly “Tarot 101”

approach. The book begins by having the reader go through the deck picking out cards

that are liked or disliked. The exercise gets a little more in depth when the reader is asked

to go through the deck and find cards from suits that fit certain descriptions such as

“victory concerning goals” from the suit of wands or “retreat for peace of mind” from the

suit of swords. This can be a confidence builder. The book is divided into lessons which

start by explaining the topic of the lesson. This is followed by a review, which is basically

an exam which thoroughly covers the lesson. There are fill in the blank questions,

matching questions and true or false questions. The questions are not easy and if you do

well on the review of the section, you probably have a pretty firm grasp of the material in

that lesson. The answers are provided at the end of the review. If you work your way

through the whole book, you should have a fairly solid basis for further study. On the

other hand, the book is not easy to complete and while the author says that “statements

about interpretations should not be taken as absolutes”, the reviews are looking for

specific answers, which are keyed to the interpretations provided by the author. There is

not a lot of room for interpretation. The book is also geared towards teaching one to be a

professional reader. There is advice on how to deal with various types of questions and

various types of querents. The book seems to assume that you will be reading for a wide

variety of people, mostly strangers, which is not surprising considering that the author was

a professional reader “reading publicly with masses of people waiting their turn and limited

to 10 minutes each”.

For those who want an orderly approach to their study of Tarot, this book will fit

the bill. Most beginner’s books spend 90% of the book explaining interpretations and

don’t really explain how one should go about learning to read. They also provide little

practical advice on how to actually read, beyond providing a few spreads and admonitions

about wrapping your cards in pure silk. This book is full of advice on how to read, and

provides a well thought out structure for study.

Easy Tarot Guide

Author: Marcia Masino

ISBN: 0-917086-59-7 paperback

Excerpt

Place the four Aces on a table in front of you. (Always look at your cards when you are

working with them.)

The Aces are the most powerful cards of the Minor Arcana and carry important

significance in a reading. These cards contain the root force of the suit’s ruling astrological

element (fire - Wands, water - Cups, air - Swords, and earth - Pentacles) in their pictures.

The element of fire and its active, combustible force can be felt from the Ace of

Wands. Fire is symbolic of our desires toward ambitions and goals in life.

(Easy Tarot Guide page 45)

If you are interested in purchasing this deck through Amazon.com, click here.